26 March,2022 07:47 AM IST | Mumbai | Dharmendra Jore
Devendra Fadnavis with BJP leaders at Vidhan Bhavan, on Monday. Pic/Suresh Karkera
Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis said CM Uddhav Thackeray's speech sounded like one made at Shivaji Park instead of the government's response to the serious charges pressed by them. "We gave evidence, but there was no answer to our submission. There was no explanation on corruption in oxygen supply plants, poor financial management of the BMC, scams in tablet purchase and water purifiers, irregularities in tendering for the zoo, change of reservation of land use, poor healthcare and the buying of 36 properties in 24 months by the chairman of the BMC's standing committee Yashwant Jadhav," said Fadnavis, using his right to reply in the assembly. He said there was no explanation why the city's Marathi schools were shutting and why hundreds of crores were spent on cleaning the shut schools.
Fadnavis said that Thackeray's speech was nothing but only barbs. He suggested that war-torn Ukraine's president should have asked for Thackeray's help instead of NATO. "The speech was an unavailing complaint. It seemed the pain is too harsh," he said, adding that probably the CM called the ED a domestic help [of BJP] because his domestic help too was on the agency's radar.
The opposition leader accepted that his party had made a government with Mehbooba Mufti in Jammu and Kashmir because the separatists and ISI had threatened that they would not allow any government to form, after the BJP-led Centre held elections despite the threats from the same groups. "We quit the government after showing the world that Kashmir can have elections and a government as well."
He said that the CM, who said that the BJP shared power with the people who demanded a pardon for Afzal Guru, also has in his current government people who had opposed the hanging of terrorists. About the example of the former US president not seeking votes in the name of killing a dreaded terrorist, Fadnavis said it was known to the world what gave (Barack) Obama the second term. "But it is painful to know that a leader like Thackeray is protecting Nawab Malik. "I understand that sometimes one has to do things against one's wishes."
